Design. Build. Innovate: Inside CO-OP’s Software Developer Culture

Design. Build. Innovate: Inside CO-OP’s Software Developer Culture

As CO-OP continues down the path of digital transformation, we are focused on building a culture of product innovation. CO-OP’s growing team of nearly 100 developers are constantly designing, developing, testing, and supporting the products and services that our credit unions and their members utilize today; but they’re also looking to build the next big product or feature that will help our clients succeed.

Recently two CO-OP developers – Ryan Daedlow and Andy Kim – had an opportunity to put that philosophy into motion, participating in a “hackathon” at the LAUNCH Developers Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. They, along with other software developer attendees, received hands-on experience conceptualizing, building and presenting a new product idea that could be potentially offered on Constellation’s open-development platform.

“We’re constantly looking for ways to improve the client experience,” said Daedlow. “Exploring new platforms and technologies and learning how to quickly develop and deploy new solutions for credit unions is a big part of our developer culture here at CO-OP.”

For the Hackathon, Daedlow and Kim’s team, Rogue Two, were given a short window to apply the information they learned about Constellation’s development platform into a real-world scenario. Along with teammates Bob Funke from Rate Reset and Zac Sanasac from Nusenda, the team focused on improving a “tile” that would predict an applicant’s mortgage rate based on their credit score. They developed set of features including a slider to show how a person’s mortgage rate would change as a result of a change to their credit score as well as a Spanish-language version of the application.

“Building these types of micro-features that improve the client experience are an important part of our product development roadmap. Beyond just conceptualizing new features, we have to ensure they integrate well within our own systems and can be properly executed,” said Kim.

At the end of the Hackathon, Daelow and Kim’s team presented and demo’ed their idea to a panel of judges and placed third overall in the competition.

“I’m extremely proud of the work that our developers do on a daily basis,” said Nick Embree, CO-OP’s Application Development Manager. “They always have a customer-first approach and look to make sure CO-OP provides the best experience.”

How do you develop a culture of innovation? Platform-thinking will be a hot topic at the THINK 18 conference in Chandler, Arizona. Join us May 7 to 10 to continue the conversation. Register now